Antionio Guterres presented the United Nations response on COVID-19 on Thursday.
The United Nations:
A week after India launched the process of auctioning blocks of coal for commercial mining, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there was no reason why ‘a country includes coal in its COVID-19 recovery plans and that investments should instead be made in clean energy sources.
On Thursday, Guterres presented the United Nations response to COVID-19 which not only documents the actions taken by the global body during the last three months of the pandemic, but also provides a roadmap for better recovery.
“We cannot go back to the current situation and simply recreate the systems that made the crisis worse. We must rebuild better with more sustainable, inclusive and egalitarian societies and economies,” said António Guterres at a press conference. Virtual. .
“There is no good reason, for example, for a country to include coal in its COVID-19 recovery plans. Now is the time to invest in non-polluting energy sources , do not cause emissions, do not generate decent jobs “and save money,” said the UN chief, adding that the UN is firmly committed to leading the renewal.
Although Guterres did not name a country, sources at the UN said the remark referred to India’s decision to launch the process of auctioning blocks of coal for commercial exploitation.
India’s decision is worrying because other countries could also use coal to meet energy needs as economies emerge from a COVID-19 deadlock, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the auction process for 41 blocks of coal for commercial mining last week, an initiative that opens India’s coal sector to private actors, and called it a failure. important towards achieving self-sufficiency in India.
Launching the auction of mines for commercial exploitation, which should bring in Rs 33,000 crores of capital investment in the country over the next five to seven years, the Prime Minister said that India would win the war. against coronaviruses and turn the crisis into an opportunity, and that the pandemic will make India self-sufficient.
Currently, despite being the world‘s fourth largest producer, India is the second largest importer of dry fuel, Modi said.
“To allow the private sector in the commercial extraction of coal is to unlock the resources of a nation with the fourth largest reserves in the world,” he said.
He said the launch of the auction process not only marked the start of the country’s coal sector unlocking after the decades-long lockout, but aimed to make India the largest exporter of coal.
The start of the auction process for these blocks is part of the series of announcements made within the framework of “ Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan ” or Independent Mission of India to revive the Indian economy affected by the COVID pandemic. -19.
In Bangkok last November, Guterres stressed the need to halt the creation of new coal-fired power plants in the future, adding that there are still several new coal-fired power plants planned for the production of future in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia.
“There is a dependence on coal that we have to overcome because it remains a major threat to climate change,” he said.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
